NTT Research and Development 2008 Review of Activities | Forum/Symposium/Event
The role that information communications should play in the advancement of the society and economy is of great importance. NTT has an objective to contribute to the development of information communications in Japan, and all around the world as well, by disseminating our research and development results. To achieve the objective, we are energetically developing the activities shown as follows.
- Announcing research results, exchanging research with other organizations
- Dissemination of R&D results through technology disclosures and other methods
- Standardization activities
2007 Symposiums/Forums Schedule (arranged chronologically)
| Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| NTT Communication Science Laboratories2007 OpenHouse * Mirai-soron | June 7-8, 2007 | NTT Keihanna Building (Kyoto) |
| NTT-Keio University Joint Symposium on "Ubiquitous Leadership: The Future of Industry-Academia Collaboration" |
July 20, 2007 | Keio University West Building Conference Hall on Mita Campus |
| Yokosuka City Centennial Commemoration 2007 | October 13-14, 2007 | NAGAI UMINOTE PARK |
| Tsukuba Forum 2007 | October 24-25, 2007 | NTT Tsukuba R&D Center Tsukuba International Congress Center |
| NTT Basic Research Laboratories Science Plaza 2007 |
November 22, 2007 | NTT Atsugi R&D Center |
| NTT Open Lab 2008 | January 11-12, 2008 | NTT Musashino R&D Center |
| Workshop of Theory on Quantum Computation, Communication, and Cryptography 2008 (TQC2008) |
January 30-February 1, 2008 | Tokyo University Hongo Campus, Koshiba Hall |
| NTT R&D Forum 2008 | February 7-8, 2008 | NTT Musashino R&D Center |
| SPRING SCIENCE CAMP 2008 | March 25-26, 2008 | NTT Yokosuka R&D Center |
NTT R&D Forum 2008
The three NTT laboratory groups joined forces for NTT R&D Forum 2008 dedicated to the theme "Towards a New World of Communication brought by Sharing of Contextualized Knowledge".
Held at the NTT Musashino R&D Center on February 7 and 8, 2008, this year's forum drew a big turnout of 4,000 guests who had an opportunity to view a number of working demonstrations.
In addition to keynote speeches, special lectures, and other presentations, the latest achievements from NTT R&D were introduced from the viewpoint of three exhibit categories: Life, Business, and Innovation. The NTT History Center of Technologies at the NTT Musashino R&D Center was also open for the attendees of the forum. The History Center chronicles NTT's many achievements and contributions going back to earlier days when NTT was a public monopoly (Denden Kosha).
NTT R&D Forum 2008 was an unqualified success. It gave the guests a firsthand look at NTT's steady progress on technologies under development, and also provided an excellent opportunity to gather valuable comments and share NTT's service vision for the future.
- NTT President Satoshi Miura
delivering the keynote address 
- Business exhibit categories at this year's forum
2007 Open House * Mirai-soron
NTT Communication Science Laboratories (NTT CS Labs) held an event entitled "2007 Open House * Mirai-soron" on June 7 and 8, 2007, at the NTT Keihanna Building, Kyoto, Japan. This event consisted of an open house and a series of lectures such as "Miraisoron" forums. The open house presented exhibits of the latest research achievements, and the Mirai-soron forums imagined and discussed our future.
The series of lectures started with an opening lecture by the Director of the Laboratories, Yoshinobu Tonomura, entitled "Denshin-Denwa: the Communication of the Future Enlightened by the Environment of Intellect." This was followed by 14 other lectures including the Mirai-soron forums, keynote speeches, and fellow speeches. Of particular interest were the Mirai-soron forums, which included the four themes "Real-time Contents Creation about Events in the Real World," "User-generated Content (UGC) 2.0," "Network Security in the Near Future," and "Human Sciences Can Change Our Society and Technologies."
The research exhibits were divided into six categories: "Look, Experience, and Feel the Environment of Intellect in 3 Inspiring Rooms," "Toward Real-world Communication Scene Analysis and Understanding," "Smart Browsing of World-wide Information via Audio/Visual Resources," "Knowledge Discovery from Exploded Information," "Toward New Generation Search Techniques for Music and Video Content," and "Computer Science on Safety and Security." There were a total of 40 exhibits with from two to eight in each category.
With about 1,000 guests in attendance, this event was an excellent opportunity to exhibit research achievements and to exchange valuable opinions through discussions. Members of the press were also in attendance, and the event received news coverage in various media.
- Lecture by director
- t-Room demonstration
NTT Open Lab 2008
NTT Open Lab 2008 was hosted by three NTT laboratory groups under the theme of "Understanding the Work of NTT Labs in 2 Days." It was targeted at students and new recruits in 2009.
Held at NTT Musashino R&D Center on January 11 and 12, this year's event introduced the 600 guests to concrete examples of NTT R&D.
In particular, in addition to an address on future vision by the director of laboratories, there were introductions to each laboratory, demonstrations on the latest research achievements, lectures on cutting-edge technologies, talks on research life held by young researchers, discussions by researchers interspersed with "Monkey Chack" familiar from the "Chie no Warai" website, and tours of laboratories and the NTT History Center of Technologies. There was also an employment consultation corner.
Through research demonstrations and talk sessions, the guests who attended this year's event had a great opportunity to have direct contact with young NTT researchers. In addition, the NTT Open Lab event served as an excellent recruit venue for securing outstanding talent.
- Future vision address
- Demonstration of the latest research achievements
SPRING SCIENCE CAMP 2008
NTT Yokosuka R&D Center hosted Spring Science Camp 2008 on March 25 and 26. This year's theme was "Experience the Future of Communication!" As part of the General Plan for Human Resources in Science and Technology promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Spring Science Camp is an integral part of the Science Partnership Project and is intended for high school students.
NTT Laboratories have held the camp each year since 2003. This year at the fifth camp, 15 high school students and one teaching advisor toured an exhibition hall of recent research achievements, listened to lectures on and saw experiments related to NTT R&D and related technologies, and had face to face discussions with researchers. Through these activities, students were provided with the opportunity to gain practical experience with cutting-edge technologies and come into direct contact with NTT researchers.
As an example of corporate citizenship, the camp was an outstanding success, earning numerous positive comments from students such as "It really perked my interest in information and communication technology," "It was two days well spent," and "I want to make use of this experience some day in the future."
- Experiment in laboratory
- Gaining practical experience in the exhibit hall
Phase 3 of NGN Field Trials and Commercial Development
NTT is now building an optical IP-based Next Generation Network (NGN). NGN field trials began on December 20, 2006. In phase 1 NTT set up NOTE*showrooms, and in phase 2 NTT Group employees actually tested the NGN. In phase 3, which began on April 27, 2007, general customers tried out the NGN in the areas of Tokyo and Osaka.
The field trials showed that in addition to conventional Internet services, customers —through special terminals developed and distributed by NTT Laboratories— could use the NGN for video phone and high-quality video delivery. The delivery of "triple-play service" was thus validated. Based on these field trials and customer comments obtained through questionnaires, it was then possible to thoroughly grasp user needs and assess the efficacy of services.
In particular, NTT expanded the number of business partner participants in phase 3 and conducted trials to give full play to the unique features of the NGN. At the same time, NTT increased the number of participants at the NOTE Otemachi showroom and relaunched it on July 18, 2007.
With the conclusion of field trials on December 17, 2007, NTT made every effort to build upon the trial experience to prepare for an increase in NGN users, to improve the level of quality, and to verify end-to-end quality control. Finally, on March 31, 2008, commercial NGN service began in the areas of Tokyo and Osaka.
- * NOTE: NGN Open Trial Exhibition
- Trial terminals
- Verification scene
